NeverEnder

Just saw the news this morning - May get interesting as far as Tour de France if it runs the course... http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/uci-requests-withdrawal-of-astana-licence-159985 http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-requests-withdrawal-of-astanas-worldtour-licence Should provide some fun (and court cases) in the international cycling scene for the next couple of weeks

Hi skistar I am the lucky winner of your "savage hurt" price!! You guys were bullets on Sunday. It would have been a much longer day in the saddle without the work done by the Savage team. Was especially impressed with the constant pace over the last 40 km. Had a little dig over that last climb before Stellenbosch but could not shake the Savages. If you build on this momentum that sub 6 hour DC is on the cards. Will be looking out for you at the Swellendam finish. PS - Will PM my details

That's great news - Lost my seeding (used to be A) because I did not compete in PPA races over the last year and am now also starting in E. Keep a spot in that tent please... :-)

Think it is slightly more attainable - a 2:45 Argus is really hammering it... I have not done the K2C for many years, but I did have a look at last years results & some of my training/team mates completed it around the 3:30 - 3:45 time range. (They mostly race Argus VA with times of about 2:50 on a good year) Ensure you have a good starting seeding and work on your climbing. If you climb well, you are able to take it easier on the flats working together with a stronger group. You do not make a lot of time on the downhills, but you lose big time if the legs give way on those last steep climbs towards the end. So go as hard as possible on the climbs (without completely going into the red) and race clever on the downhills & flats to make the best of the groups around you. Do not hammer it alone into the wind trying to catch up. It will just sap you with small gains. How to climb strong? - Well its all down to power/weight ratio; unfortunately...

We are @ 7:03 - So please keep well left so that we can pass. Any idea when the full start list will & times will become available? PS - Wolfie gaan ons Saterdag aand paar biere vat?

It falls under the category of "Bad Science" which include Extrapolating studies outside their scope of reference Non-peer reviewed studies “dressed” as legitimate mainstream accepted knowledge Misrepresenting of results to imply more than the original study concluded Making very long leaps of logic – i.e. taking lab studies (not a scientific clinical blind study analysis on human subjects) of potentially unrelated chemical processes and then stringing them all together to infer that it will be the “necessary” outcome in human biology. Etc etc Here is a link to educate yourself on some of the techniques used by many pharmaceuticals and the health industries PR deparments http://www.ted.com/talks/ben_goldacre_battling_bad_science.html

Yes that was a nasty crash. Ruined rest of my season. Hopefully the organizer will now refrain from putting down mats in a howling south easter. The mats are much more dangerous that the tracks.

Ouch! Yes we will miss the hairy - sorry lanky - one. Tell you what Andy; you point out the train tracks for the old man this year and I will give a little helping push up the climb. And you better burn that sprint as going away present for your team!

AndyDudes splits are slightly misleading - He climbs like a girl, gets dropped and then needs to chase back like a bat out of hell... Sorry Big guy, could not resist. Serves you right for leaving us for Joburg!

Just to clarify - the focus of my "gripe" was not primarily on the money aspect. I also find it amusing if there is this big forum war about some entry increasing from R150 to R200; and then the next day they spend thousands on bling bike equipment without batting a eye lid. My comment is more about offering more challenging (and more varied) races as part of the league. If you want to include a hill climb - at least make it a climb of a few kilometers in length to suite climbers. I like the idea of Bainskloof; or even that climb to the pump station in Gordonsbay. I am also not against a circuit race - but having the league decided on 3 x relatively short & flat races & 2 x one hour crits is relatively one dimensional, don't you think? Why must the spring league be suited only to sprinters? 1. How about replacing one circuit race with a longer (130km +) road race. (Like the 1-tonner; I know there is logistics but can a plan not be made?) 2. Make the hill climb a real challenge and utilize the great mountain passes we have in the Western Cape. (And please don't start carbon footprint arguments - us living in the Boland must commute to Cape Town in summer) 3. There is still a criterion & the flatter road races for the sprinters This will give opportunities for all specialties and the GC contender is the best all rounder - as it should be! (With the points system losing time in one discipline need not be the end of the competition) Many of us saw with the Mzunduzi how unprepared we are for long tough races after our spring league. League is supposed to be a stepping stone to a next level is it not?

Agree If you think the entry is about R750 (excluding team entry) That means you are paying effectively R150 to cycle up Malans in about 4-5 min? (As well as R150 to cycle for one hour round a block - You can get that for R30 at Killarney) The spring league is not currently looking like good value for money... Any info on the 3 day race planned by the pro-classic in Paarl?

I have had this discussion a number of times with my teammates but am still not sure if they have grasped the concepts of gauge pressure, absolute pressure & pressure differentials. So the exact numbers - maybe it can help some of those scientific neanderthals I am cycling with as well. For this example I will take a MTB tire. At sea level your pump's gauge shows 3 bar ( about 303 kPa) - This means the absolute pressure in the tire is 4 bar (404 kPa), since the atmospheric pressure is also 1 bar. If you get into a plane the bulkhead is pressurized to equal a "relative elevation" of around 2400-2500 meters above sea level. (i.e. the pressure in the plane is the same as you would experience if you are standing on a 2500m high mountain). You can check this with a Polar RS 800 (or a sensitive diving watch) that registers elevation based on the barometric pressure next time you are flying. The atmospheric pressure at 2500m is equal to about 0.75 bar (76 kPa) The absolute pressure in the tire does not change (except if your tire is leaking) and is still 4 bar That means the gauge pressure (as measured by your pump) would now be 404kPa - 76kpa = 328 kPa. So the change in pressure experienced by the tyre is LESS THAN 0.3 bar. Meaning your mtb tire's pressure would chage from 3 bar to 3.3 bar when flying - It should be OK. Of course the same hold true for a road tire - were 0.3 bar pressure difference would have even less of an impact Sorry for the long explanation - But its specifically for the benefit of Andydude who is still struggling with his physics...

Ignore the first free times on race tec. They probably switched to the medium/short route during the event. And STILL rolled over the mats. They may correct it later Also Lance Muller & Jaco Venter broke away close to the end and won Elites by about 20-30sec. Their times are not on racetec.

Never received my PPA number last year, so with all this positive seeding "buzz" around I checked my latest seeding as well. AND would you believe it I am a solid A! Andy if they put you in A as well then we know the standards are going for the dogs. Don't really see the need to get/upgrade a PPA number if you plan to race league - not a single race you will need it for this summer.

Since the Lemmers are organizing the Tour de Boland; they hopefully PROHIBIT csa licensing in the event.